A host of Broadway celebrities and stage favorites are taking to social media to spread joy while attending the theatre is not an option.
To keep spirits high in quarantine, Hairspray alums from screen and stage united to perform the musical’s showstopping finale number, Fun Home Tony nominee Sydney Lucas sang “Ring of Keys” to raise awareness about the autistic community, and more performed.
Check them out below, and keep coming back for more videos.
Columbia University alum and Tony-winning Broadway composer Tom Kitt teamed up with Dear Evan Hansen Tony winner Ben Platt for the song “Oh, Columbia,” to celebrate the Class of 2020 during their virtual graduation ceremonies.
Ricki Lake, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Nikki Blonksy, Jenifer Lewis, Kristin Chenoweth, and more Hairspray alums from the stage and screen came together for a joyful, socially distant performance of “You Can’t Stop The Beat” to benefit The Actors Fund.
As part of their EPIC Sings for Autism series, EPIC Players Inclusion Company presented a duet version of the Fun Home tune “Ring of Keys” that paired Tony nominee Sydney Lucas and EPIC Player Nicole D’Angelo. The EPIC Sings for Autism series was created to shed light on the challenges that members of the neuro-diverse community are facing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tony winner Anika Noni Rose closed out 52nd Street Project’s Game Changers Virtual Gala with the song “I Want a Friend,” written by 10-year-old Doris (with music by Avi Amon and background vocals by Jessica Carvo) for the play she created during the 52nd Street Project’s Playmaking program.
West End stars Marisha Wallace (Waitress, Dreamgirls), Evelyn Hoskins (Waitress, Sound of Music Live), Kayleigh McKnight (Hugh Jackman World Tour, Tina—The Tina Turner Musical), and Claire O’Leary (Les Misérables West End) performed alongside a virtual choir of 28 recent graduates from all over the U.K. and Ireland in honor of Mental Health Awareness week in the U.K. Proceeds from the song “We’re Unstoppable” (written by James Taylor, Rhiannon Neads, and Sally O’Leary) will benefit mental heath-focused charities Mind and Pieta.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, Arena Stage Company moved its Voices of Now initiative—which focuses on training young artists to create autobiographical theatre—entirely online. In this video, more than 100 participants collaborated to create a digital time capsule of their daily lives in the time of coronavirus.
Now that they’re all grown up, the original 2011 cast members of the West End’s Matilda got together to present a virtual version of the show’s moving anthem “When I Grow Up” in support of the NHS.
